1. Field Of The Invention
The present invention pertains to hypodermic needles and particularly to hypodermic needles used by medical personnel which include sheaths to protect the personnel from accidental punctures with the needle.
2. Description Of The Prior Art
And Objectives Of The Invention
With the increasing spread of contagious diseases such as hepatitis and AIDS, a greater concern has developed by medical personnel over accidental needle puncturing which occasionally occurs during patient injection and extractions. Various types of shielded needle syringes have been constructed in the past such as set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 2,876,770 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,767,413. Such prior art devices are relatively complex in structure and are not intended as inexpensive, disposable instruments. Also, in most prior art retractable needle syringes, the means for retracting the needle, whether it be a coil spring or otherwise, is concealed inside the shield therefore increasing the inconvenience and time required for maintenance in the event the spring malfunctions.
Hence, with the aforesaid and other problems and disadvantages encountered with prior art syringes, the present invention was conceived and one of its objectives is to provide a syringe having a sleeve which will automatically shield the needle when not in use or if the syringe is accidentally dropped.
It is still another objective of the present invention to provide a syringe apparatus which includes a cylindrical transparent fluid container and a transparent sleeve which receives the fluid container whereby the amount of fluid can be easily, visually monitored.
It is yet another objective of the present invention to provide a syringe apparatus which is disposable and relatively easy to assemble.
It is another objective of the present invention to provide a vacuum container collection syringe having removable collection tubes utilizing a double needle.
Another objective of the present invention is to provide a syringe apparatus which is inexpensive to purchase and which can be used to either extract or inject fluids as needed.
It is yet still another objective of the present invention to provide a syringe apparatus having a retractable needle whereby the means for retracting said needle is exposed and exteriorly positioned on the fluid container.
Various other objectives and advantages of the present invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art as a more detailed presentation of the invention is described below.